Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the report of the Canadian delegations of the Canadian branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association respecting the participation in three events: the 57th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference; the International Parliamentary Conference on Millennium Development Goals; and the Annual International Seminar in Delhi.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1) I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, the following reports of the Canadian delegation of the Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group respecting its participation in three meetings: the National Conference of State Legislatures held in Louisville, Kentucky from July 25 to 28, 2010; the 35th Annual Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers held in Halifax, Nova Scotia from July 10 to 12, 2011; and the Pacific Northwest Economic Region 21st Annual Summit held in Portland, Oregon from July 19 to 22, 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in relation to its study of chapter 3, Reserve Force Pension Plan, National Defence of the 2011 spring report of the Auditor General of Canada.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109 of the House of Commons, the committee requests the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the ninth report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights in relation to Bill C-217, an act to amend the Criminal Code (mischief relating to war memorials).

The committee has studied the bill and has decided to report the bill back to the House with an amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a bill that addresses an important issue that exists in our immigration law, with thanks to the seconder, the member for Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert.

This bill would establish an appeal process for people who have been denied permanent residency on health grounds or simply because they have a disability. While our country needs reasonable policies to protect our health care and social services, our immigration law is being used to exclude people with all forms of disabilities and differences. One recent example from my own riding of Vancouver Kingsway is the case of the Patel family.

Kevin Patel is a young, bright, successful accountant who immigrated to Canada almost a decade ago. He is exactly the kind of person the government says it wants to attract. Mr. Patel sponsored his family to join him in his new home in Canada. The request was denied solely because his parents have a dependent daughter who has Down's syndrome. Down's syndrome is not an illness, it is not a disease. It is a chromosome difference that exists in nature and across all cultures. People with Down's syndrome go to school, work and marry. They are cherished and contributing members of our families and communities. Families with children with autism are being similarly excluded, and this is wrong. These people are not burdens on anyone. It is time our immigration laws were amended to reflect this fact.

I hope I can get the support of all my colleagues for this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to tell everyone in the House and those Canadians watching across the country that this fantastic piece of legislation would make Edison Arantes do Nascimento, or Pelé, an honorary citizen of Canada.

Who is he, members may ask?

Pelé is the world's greatest soccer player of all time. More importantly, his work for the poor and impoverished, UNESCO and the United Nations has been recognized. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by her Majesty the Queen in 1997. Pelé is, by and large, one of the world's finest citizens to have ever graced this planet, like Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King and many others. In 2014, the World Cup will be in Brazil.

I want to thank my hon. colleague for Chambly—Borduas for seconding this bill to have Pelé become an honorary Canadian citizen. I think this would be a wonderful tribute to the man, to the country of Brazil, as well as to the relations and cultural contacts Brazil has with Canada.

We have made other wonderful citizens of the world honorary citizens. I believe that Pelé deserves this title as well. Making Pelé, the world's greatest soccer player of all time, an honorary citizen would be fantastic, not only for the sport of soccer, which, by the way, is my favourite sport, but because he is an absolutely tremendous human being.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present this petition on behalf of my constituents who call on the Government of Canada to issue an invitation for all states to gather in Canada and begin the discussions needed for a global legal ban on nuclear weapons.

The petition states, from the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, that there is no medical response to nuclear war. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has proposed a summit on nuclear disarmament. In 2010, the House unanimously passed a motion that encourages the Government of Canada to deploy a major worldwide Canadian diplomatic initiative in support of preventing nuclear proliferation and increasing the rate of nuclear disarmament. This request by my constituents would be a way of translating that into meaningful action.

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today. The first is signed by British Columbians who have some serious concerns about the present member of Parliament pension plan, believing it is extravagant compared to the majority of pensions in the public or private sectors. They are concerned about the proposed review of the MP pension plan and believe that a political review of the current plan should be replaced by an apolitical review and that the findings should be released in their entirety to the public.

The second petition is also signed by British Columbians. They are concerned about the 400-year-old definition of a human being in Canada, that says that a child does not become a human being until the moment of complete birth.

Therefore, they call upon Parliament to confirm that every human being is recognized by Canadian law as human by amending section 223 of our criminal code in such a way as to reflect 21st century medical evidence.

Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege and the honour of attending the RADHOC Conference in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. A collection of youth from grades 10 to 12, up to 17 years of age, spent three days talking about issues of the day and how public policy affects them. They presented a petition to me on site and asked me to present it to the House of Commons.

They are calling on the federal government to make health transfers to provinces adequate to all ten provinces and three territories. I would like to thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the House, for allowing me to do this. I also thank all those young people from communities such as St. John's, Bishop's Falls and Conception Bay South.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to submit a petition signed by more than 500 people in the riding of Acadie—Bathurst, who are calling on the House of Commons to maintain funding for old age security and to make the necessary investments to enhance guaranteed income supplement benefits and end poverty for all seniors.

Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise today to table a petition from individuals in the province of Manitoba, who are concerned about the aerospace industry and the fact that the Government of Canada is not taking Air Canada to court to preserve the overhaul maintenance base.

The law states in paragraph 6(1)(d), “...provisions requiring the Corporation to maintain operational and overhaul centres in the City of Winnipeg, the Montreal Urban Community and the City of Mississauga”.

The petitioners are calling on the Prime Minister and government to hold Air Canada accountable to the law of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I am presenting, on behalf of Canadians, another petition about the well-deserved fears that they have about cuts to the CBC. They want to be able to keep the CBC intact and are putting their pens to paper to support such action.

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to present a petition, signed by about a hundred people, concerning the Aéroports de Montréal or ADM. In my riding, there is a major problem with aircraft noise, and people are also very concerned about their health and the environment.

This is what the petition says:

WHEREAS:

1. In recent years, the number of aircraft headed toward runway 24D at the Montreal-Trudeau Airport has increased;

2. Aircraft are flying over the area at low altitudes at all hours of the day;

3. There is noise pollution due to repeated exposure to aircraft noise;

We, the undersigned, who live and work in the Saint-Sulpice sector of the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough of Montreal,

are asking the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

for a return to the situation that existed prior to the renovation of the Montreal-Trudeau Airport in 2007, when aircraft flew at an acceptable altitude and rate and produced a normal level of noise.

That is what people want. I am very pleased to table this petition today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present four petitions from members of my community.

The first is calling on Canada to host a conference on nuclear disarmament. The petitioners remind us that there are 22,000 nuclear weapons in the world, several thousand of which are on alert and capable of being used in under 30 minutes, and also that the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has proposed a summit on nuclear disarmament. Therefore, the petitioners call on the House of Commons to issue an invitation to all states to gather in Canada to begin discussions needed for a global legal ban on nuclear weapons.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from the Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change. The petitioners are from my riding of Parkdale—High Park and call on Parliament to adopt the following policy goals: that we take collective action by signing and implementing an international binding agreement replacing the Kyoto protocol; that we demonstrate national responsibility by committing to national carbon emission targets; and that we implement climate justice by playing a constructive role in the design of the green climate fund under United Nations governance.

The third petition is again from my riding of Parkdale—High Park and also on the issue of climate change. It calls on the Government of Canada to take immediate steps to develop, in co-operation with the provinces, a national policy on renewable energy with the goal of presenting to Parliament this national policy by 2014 for adoption into law; and subsequent implementation, by government action, policies to develop renewable energy technologies that will mitigate the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions.

Finally, I have two petitions from members of my community, again on the issue of climate change, recognizing that more than 95% of climate scientists conclude that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are responsible for the increase in global average temperature over the last 200 years. The petitioners call on Parliament to give this problem its immediate and fullest attention and to create policies that support innovative solutions; commit to the most current science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets; facilitate transition to a clean energy economy, based on renewable energy; and to act as a world leader on climate change solutions, as it did in tackling acid rain and the ozone hole.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to rise today to present two petitions.

The first pertains to the fight against poverty in Canada. The petitioners, who are mainly from Ontario, are asking Parliament to vote in favour of Bill C-233, the purpose of which is to establish a strategy to eliminate poverty in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition comes from residents of Ontario and British Columbia. They are urging the Government of Canada to stop presuming the results of the National Energy Board joint review panel on the so-called northern gateway project, the great pipeline of China, the risky supertanker scheme. They call on the government to allow that process to function. It is more urgent than ever that these petitioners be heard because it appears from the budget that there is an attempt to fast-track an existing review.

With regard to the construction of a new arena in Laval: (a) can the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities confirm that, if the project submitted is the same apart from the number of seats in the arena (10,000 instead of 7,000), the government will contribute the same level of funding announced in 2009; and (b) what are the rules and criteria for obtaining federal funding for the construction of public sports facilities?

Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), under both the community and large urban centre components of the building Canada fund program, each Quebec municipality was eligible to submit project proposals that met the program terms and conditions for consideration by the Government of Quebec. The Government of Quebec then determined which projects could receive funding based on its priorities. Projects selected by the government of Quebec were then sent to the Economic Development Agency of Canada for Quebec Regions, which undertakes a review and recommends projects to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities for federal approval. Each project funding proposal was reviewed based on the program funding criteria and remaining program funds. For each project approved for funding, Quebec is required to establish a memorandum of understanding with the applicant confirming funding by the parties.

Construction of the Laval multipurpose sports and cultural complex was expected begin in early 2010 and end on December 1, 2011. However, the construction work has yet to begin and the project is now well behind schedule. Confirmation of the Government of Quebec’s involvement in the project has been delayed, as a memorandum of understanding has not been signed with the applicant. Lastly, certain factors suggest that the scope and scale of the project are much more extensive than what was initially approved. In light of this new information, the project is no longer the same as the one approved in 2009. A new project proposal that meets the program’s eligibility criteria must be submitted to replace the Laval multipurpose sports and cultural complex project.

In response to (b), Infrastructure Canada’s investments in sport and recreational infrastructure are intended to encourage Canadians of all ages to become active, and can also help high-performance amateur athletes train for national and international competitions and support major amateur sports events. However, facilities used to house professional sports teams, including major junior hockey teams, are not eligible for federal infrastructure funding. This policy is Canada-wide.